RWBY: This Dying World
by ZipRush
Summary: Portals have begun to appear in the wilds of Vale, right in the middle of counter-Grimm operations. They were inert for a time, content to just flicker in and out of existence, but then they did something: they spat out a person. Now, the portals pose a visible risk: What else could it send? One team of Hunters sets out to shut down the portals before that question can be answered.
1. Chapter 1 - First Contact (Tal)

**A/N:** Hello and welcome to this S.T.A.L.K.E.R. x RWBY crossover!

If you're not familiar with one or both sections of this crossover, don't worry. I'll explain things from both worlds through the story.

The story's going to be told from a first-person perspective, with a few breaks to third-person as needed.

Enjoy.

* * *

 **THE 'WILD TERRITORY', THE ZONE, UKRAINE**

Four stalkers snuck into one of the Wild Territory's warehouses, the lead man illuminated by the radioactive green glow of an LED display. Without a word, they fanned out and secured the building, the only light inside coming from their headlamps and their goal - a pool of acid in a corner. Outside, a gas-masked figure keyed his radio.

"Boar, we've got stalkers in Warehouse 2. Advise?"

"How long have they been there?"

"A few minutes. They aren't going for a stash; my bet's on artifacts."

"Copy. They're going to make a run for Yantar come morning. I'm sending a team to you, there'll be people who'll pay way better than the ecologists for what those loners pick up."

"In the interim?"

"Watch them. If you can, note down the artifacts they bag."

"Roger that, Boar. Looking forward to splitting the loot."

The figure grinned and shook his head as he switched on the night-vision optics on his rifle. "Stupid stalkers; this is _our_ turf."

* * *

 **TALTOS**

The sun was just starting to light up the sky outside, signalling that our artifact hunt was coming to a close. "Matko, we need to get going, _now_!"

Matko waved away my concerns idly, his eyes glued to the detector in his hand. "Relax, Taltos, the Mercs won't shoot us right away. They'll give us the tax first."

"And then they'll shoot us. What the fuck don't you understand?"

"No, they'll shoot Gypsy. Then they'll get us to give them everything, then they'll shoot Arkady. Once they know we don't have anything else they shoot you, then they shoot me. That gives me about ten minutes to figure out an escape plan." Matko glanced up from the LED display of his detector, the sickly green glow giving his face a manic look. "I like those odds."

Arkady unholstered his AK and checked the magazine. "If I die here, I'm taking a few of those blue-shirted bastards with me. I'm not going out on my knees to some kid with an M4."

"Well Arkady, by my plan, you're being shot second. You want to start fighting back, you can go right ahead once Gypsy eats a round."

Our fourth member, Gypsy, was on door duty; it was up to him to warn us if the mercs were starting their patrols up. "And what if I don't want to eat a round? What if I just fuck off now and leave you for the mercs?"

"You're a gypsy; there isn't anyone else in the whole Zone that'd work with you. If we spill to the mercs that we had a fourth guy who ran for it, they'll drop a friendly message to Duty that they're housing a coward and that'll be the end of your stalker career."

"I could go bandit."

That was quite possibly the funniest thing he'd said all morning. The Mercenaries would kill you if you weren't a part of their outfit; you'd cut into their profits if you lived. Duty would kill you if you didn't follow their code to the letter, or shot a few Loners. The Bandits, you just couldn't tell with them; if you talked shit about the wrong guy, you died, but if you didn't, you'd still probably die. Gypsy, being a gypsy, would be able to measure his life in _seconds_ if he fell in with them. "Well, at least we wouldn't haunt you for long if you did."

"Just because you call me 'Gypsy' doesn't mean everyone knows I am, assholes."

And now, the coup de grace. "You don't check your PDA much, do you? Me and Matko made a few changes a couple of days back; there isn't anyone in the Zone who doesn't know - before they've even met you - that you're a gypsy."

"Fuck it; you guys are on your own. I'm-"

I assume that sentence was going to be 'I'm leaving', but a 5.56 NATO round passing through his throat put an end to that. I guess the Mercenaries were up early this morning.

"Matko, pack it in. We have to move, or they'll move on us." Arkady had already moved to drag Gypsy inside. If we were fast, we could at least hide his backpack - screw the mercs out of one person's gear. "Arkady, how far out?"

"Twenty metres, I think. They were quiet this time."

I shouldered my weapon - an old AK-74 - and pointed it at the door. The first merc through there was getting some old-school Soviet vengeance. Second one might get me, but their point man was screwed. "Matko. You're done picking up artifacts."

I heard the click-clack of the bolt on an MP5 being cocked behind me. "Gotcha. Arkady see how many there were?"

Arkady crouched down, just out of sight of anyone passing through the door and aimed his weapon at it. "More than one. You want to find out more, look for yourself. I'm not winding up like Gypsy."

"Great." I checked our sides for entries, an old habit from before I came to the Zone. Being prepared to take on a larger force worked great if you could force them into a bottleneck, less so if they could flank you. One door on our left - one that led to another room like the one we were in - looked promising. Worst comes to worst, it was big enough for me to sneak off with my loot.

"Matko, keep me covered. I'm going to try and flank around. Maybe I can get us some idea of what we're dealing with."

He nodded, double-tapping my shoulder. "Yep. You're good, get going."

I holstered my AK and pulled out my sidearm, a Fort-12. Good combination of magazine size and stopping power, but it was useless against body armour. If I wanted to kill a mercenary, I was going to have to aim for the face - a daunting task at the best of times.

Luckily, I didn't have to try. The bay I was moving to check had some kind of anomaly in it; one that fused shut the doors as I got in. The main doors, which I was hoping to make my exit through, were pre-sealed for my convenience. As I stepped in, the door I came in through shut and sealed. The Zone had a twisted idea of good fortune, to say the least; it was saying that I didn't have to die with my group, but it was not letting me get out of this without some damage. Of course, this damage was to be done by anomaly. My hopes for survival were dwindling by the second.

This anomaly was weird, even by anomaly standards, because most of them stick to toying with one particular part of reality. This anomaly I found seemed to be doing all sorts; it was the anomaly to end all anomalies. It was hot enough to fuse steel like a Burner, it made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck like an Electro, it pulled you in like a Whirligig, and it teleported you God-knows-where like a Space anomaly.

Next thing I know, I was face-down in some dirt, with the sound of a gun being cocked over my head. "Stay down, hands where I can see them!"

Whatever I'd done, it'd pissed off a soldier. Maybe the mercs found me. Maybe the Zone decided my strategies needed work and threw me to the wolves. Maybe - and this was a long shot - I'd been flung clear of my group's predicament and put squarely in Private Ivan Ivanovich's gunsights. Maybe it was a Sergeant Ivanovich who'd done some time in the Zone and knew not to shoot on sight.

A little analysis put that theory to bed, mainly because the soldier in question wasn't speaking Russian. He was speaking English, strangely enough. "Hey, soldier man, where am I?"

"Shut it, jackass. You're trespassing in heavily-secured territory; it's a miracle I haven't shot you yet."

The soldier grabbed me by my pack and pulled me onto my knees.

"Hands behind your back. Now."

As he yanked me up, I saw his buddy, rifle pointed at my face. I'd seen a lot of rifles in my time in the Zone, but the gun I was being threatened with was not one of them. It was boxy, metallic and unusually clean. I didn't want to find out what caliber round it shot, so I decided to obey the command and put my hands behind my back for the inevitable zip-tie. I felt the hard plastic bite into my wrists as he fastened the cord and pulled me to my feet. He spun me around and showed me a vehicle that looked strangely like the Humvees Americans found so popular.

"You're going to climb in the back and Wilks is going to follow you in. You try to run or anything and we'll bring you in cold."

The phrase didn't make any sense to me; to 'bring me in cold'. What, were they going to strip me naked? The situation didn't call for humor, though, so I let it lie. I walked towards the Humvee, counting the steps of the soldier behind me as a form of safety. If he stopped walking, then I was going to die. I saw the door they wanted me to climb in and did so, listening to my impromptu jailor clamber in behind me.

The man in command, who had cuffed me, climbed in the front and waved to the driver to go. "You're in for one hell of a shitstorm when we bring you in; I almost wish you'd ran. Less paperwork explaining why a dead body's in the middle of a Hunter's Zone than there is to explain a live human."

"So why not just shoot me anyway?"

Wilks, the guy sitting next to me, spoke up. The soldiers were a lot more personable than the ones on Cordon duty back in the Zone, it would seem. "Body cams. We've got to account for everything that it sees, including random-ass people dropping out of thin air."

That seemed strange; I don't remember falling. "Wait, what?"

"Yep, you weren't there one second, you were the next. Not much more complicated than that. Don't worry, we've got guys looking for your hideout now; your shit's coming with us."

They thought I was from… here. I didn't believe it. "I have nothing here. I was in a warehouse, then I was on the road here. Unless there's a warehouse in this 'Hunter's Zone', you won't find anything of mine here."

"Buddy, you'd do well to shut up now. Trying to bullshit _us_ won't do you any favours; we just want to see you squirm under one of the Huntresses. Bullshit them all you like, though; you won't live to enjoy it."

Great. Again, I followed the soldier's orders, but this time it was because these guys had no actual power.

* * *

I was sat in a small room, bare and featureless except for the table I was seated at. Not even a clock or anything to stare at to pass the time. What only made it stranger was the fact that there wasn't even some two-way glass for people to observe through.

My concerns came to a head when I saw my would-be interrogator. It was a girl, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two, in a pure white longcoat. Her hair was done off to one side in a ponytail, and it was the same shade of white as her coat; whether it was natural or dyed was not a question I thought to ask. Her face, arguably the only part of her that wasn't covered, was just as unblemished as her clothes, save for a scar running over her left eye; the only physical evidence I could see to suggest she's ever fought. Speaking of her eyes, they were a ridiculously clear shade of blue, but without a hint of dullness behind them. I could see why she'd been chosen to interrogate me, if she had in fact been chosen. Had we met in a club or somewhere, I might've said something complimentary.

"You're going to tell me who you are and why you're here, and you're going to do it before I lose my patience."

Now wasn't this cute. Some university-age girl trying to tell a man with easily eight to ten years on her what to do. Of course, she wasn't in cuffs or in the mood for being jerked around, so I didn't have a lot of bargaining power. That's not to say I didn't think some prodding was necessary.

"And if you lose your patience?"

"You don't leave this room breathing."

Opening with a death threat; a bold move against a stalker. I didn't want to ruin the surprise, so I played along with the appropriate reaction of shock. Mouth agape would have overdone it, so a sharp inhale and blink would have to suffice. "That's a little harsh."

"You're in the middle of a highly-secured military operation with no explanation for it. At the moment, I think you're a spy. For who, I don't particularly care. So, if you want to keep living, answer my questions. Who are you and why are you here?"

"No interest in where I'm from? I mean, if I was a spy, you'd at least want to know where I came from, no?"

"That question can be answered later. Now, for the last time, who are you, and why are you here?"

Her ever-present frown deepened, and one hand strayed to the sword hanging from her coat. Maybe she was one of those officers who loved tradition, wearing the sword with her uniform or something. Though, that didn't explain why the dress sword was a rapier; normally it's a saber. Whatever her reasons, I had a feeling that my bulletproof vest wouldn't save me from being impaled. "Taltos. My name is Taltos."

"And my other question?"

Oh, I loved these kinds of questions. 'Why are you here?' It just _begged_ to be taken to stupid extremes. "Why am I here? Biologically, I'm the product of millions of years of evolution and my upbringing. Philosophically, I'm-"

Of course, my idiot brain had forgotten about the sword at the girl's hip. 'Smartass' was not an appropriate response for this scenario, unless I wanted to be stabbed in the chest. Luckily, it had stopped about an inch from my sternum. She must've been in the mood to be merciful today.

" _Don't_ play with me. Answer the question."

 _Good work, Taltos, you've just locked yourself into a no-win situation. She's not going to believe 'I don't know why I'm here', but you can't say anything else without being suspicious as hell. Oh, hell with it; getting killed for honesty is less of a sin than getting killed lying._

"I have no idea why I'm here. My word to God, I fell out of the sky about an hour ago. I didn't choose to fall out of the sky in front of one of your patrols, and I sure as hell didn't choose to fall out of the sky in the first place."

The girl's sword stayed at my chest and didn't move closer. I guess my excuse was just believable enough.

"If you fell out of the sky, then what were you doing before the patrol found you?"

"I was inside a warehouse with three of my friends. There were mercenaries outside, they shot my third friend in the throat. I was going to take an exit and leave my remaining two friends to die, because we wouldn't have the firepower to take them down on our own. I go to sneak out a side exit, claiming I was going to flank the mercenaries, only for this fucking weird anomaly to suck me in. Everything went white, then I was face-down in the dirt in front of your patrol. You want to know why I'm here? Ask the anomaly that dumped me here."

The girl's eyes narrowed, like she was trying to look into me to see if I was lying. For my part, I was too scared to move; but I suppose a rapier over your heart will do that to you. Slowly, her sword drew back, sliding back into its loop on her coat. _Good. Progress at last_.

"What is this 'anomaly' you're talking about?"

She couldn't have asked an easy question. "That's a difficult question to answer; the one I was sucked through looked like a hole in the air. Not a hole with anything on the other side, but a hole you could see all the same. It's got a bit of pull, enough to knock you off your feet if you're around it for long enough."

Her head cocked slightly to the side, more out of intrigue than childish curiosity. "That didn't seem too difficult to answer."

"You asked about a particular anomaly. If you asked me about anomalies in general, then you'd have a problem." Noting the slightly improved mood of my interrogator, I figured now was as good a time as any to start negotiating. "Could I get these cuffs off?"

I shook my wrists to draw her attention to them, and the cuffs binding them. Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword, but it didn't move. I guess I had some more goodwill to build first. But I didn't really have anything left to offer, so a direct approach was all that was left.

"Look, you don't want me here; I don't want to be here, so let's help each other out. Cut my cuffs, take me back to where you found me and I'll make my way home from there. If you want to follow me, that's fine, I don't have a problem with that. But please, if you're not going to do anything else, let me go."

The girl smiled, the first positive expression I'd seen on her - a fact I found rather unnerving - and knocked twice on the door behind her. The door opened and she was joined by another girl, slightly younger than she was if the look was right.

If I was to call the first girl 'White', then this second one would be 'Red'. Where the first had snow-white hair, this one had red hair. Not a strawberry-blonde or whatever passes for 'red-headed' in slang, but proper dark red hair, with the sole exception of the tips, which had been dyed a slightly brighter shade than the rest.

Where 'White' wore an ankle-length white greatcoat, 'Red' wore a red cloak/scarf combination that had the cloak running down to her knees, a gray shirt under a corset/overalls-looking piece of dress, a red skirt and, refreshingly, some armour; the left sleeve of her shirt had pieces of metal running the length of it, but all segmented in a way that it wouldn't hamper her movement.

"So, who's he?"

"He says his name is 'Taltos'. He doesn't know why he's in our area, and he claims he was dropped into it by something called an 'anomaly'. Apparently, these 'anomalies' are capable of teleportation from impressive distances, as he remembers being in a warehouse before being dropped here. Seeing as the nearest settlement with a warehouse is half a continent away…"

Red nodded. "Uh-huh. Do we know where he's from?"

"It didn't matter."

"I'm asking, so it does now. Hey, Taltos, where you from?"

"Where did I come from or where was I born?" I think she was looking for the first answer, but the second couldn't hurt, as it'd give me a rough idea of where I was depending on if they knew it.

"Why don't we go with both?"

"I come from a place called 'The Zone' in Ukraine. You've probably heard of it; there was a huge disaster there about twenty-five years ago." The lack of response from the two was… disconcerting. What part of the world had I wound up in that they'd never heard of Chernobyl? "You _have_ heard of Chernobyl, right?"

Red raised a hand to her lips, as though she was contemplating what I said. "Chernobyl? Ukraine? Where are these places?"

That was bad. Most people knew about Ukraine. More had heard of Chernobyl. Being in the same room as two people who hadn't heard of either was worrying. "Ukraine is a country in Europe. Chernobyl was a town in Ukraine, and the name of a nearby nuclear power plant. You've never heard of either of these places?"

Red's brow furrowed in concentration, then she tapped White on the shoulder. "Outside."

White nodded, following Red back out into the hall. My hopes of getting out were dwindling, and my hopes of getting back to the Zone were pretty much non-existent. The Zone was definitely paying me back for abandoning my friends now. That didn't mean I couldn't at least find out what the name of this purgatory was. "Wait! Before you- Could you at least tell me where the hell I am?"

The two looked at each other, as though choosing which one of them wanted to break the news. White finally spoke.

"This is the Kingdom of Vale. The installation you're in is manned by the Vale Defense Force. Does that answer your question?"

I paled slightly. If I was still on Earth, this definitely wasn't a time I was familiar with. "There isn't a Kingdom of Vale where I'm from. Maybe a planet name or something could be more useful."

"Remnant. The planet is 'Remnant'. Is that everything?"

I smirked; the Zone was known for its bizarre sense of humor. "Yeah… I guess so." I watched as the two left the room before allowing myself any more of a reaction. Remnant. Of _course_ I'd be dumped on 'Remnant'. I'm a remnant of a group that's probably dead. An apt prison, if nothing else.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Visitor (Ruby)

**ZONE 12 HEADQUARTERS, GREATER KINGDOM OF VALE**

 **RUBY**

* * *

I pulled the door shut, listening for the click of the latch before I said anything.

"So, Weiss, do you think he's lying?"

Weiss buttoned up her coat before she spoke. "I want to think so, but… Do you think Ozpin's heard of this 'Ukraine'? Or anywhere he's mentioned?"

"Should we leave him in there while we check?"

I wanted to let him out of his cuffs; where was he going to go in the middle of a military outpost, but I wanted to make sure we were all okay with somebody we didn't know walking around before I did anything.

"If we let him go, we don't know what he's capable of. If we leave him in there, at least we know he's not going to do anything. If you want to let him out, I'm not going to stop you, but I _will_ rub it in if it backfires."

Something about Weiss smiling in that thick coat was _really_ scary. Even a half-smile got more menacing when she was wearing it.

"Thanks Weiss. Go to Comms, tell them they're getting a guest."

Weiss nodded as I opened the door. It would seem that Taltos - if that was his name - hadn't moved while me and Weiss were talking, but he was sat slightly further back than he was when I left.

"Have a nice chat? That door's not as soundproof as you would think."

I hesitated on drawing my weapon. I wanted to know how much he heard before I did anything stupid. "Oh yeah? I guess you heard what we were going to do, then."

"You were going to let me go. Your friend in white thinks I'm going to try and escape or something. She's wrong, I'll say that much. You also plan to take me to another person: Ozpin, I think his name was. But, I don't think he's here, otherwise I wouldn't be going to a comms building." He shook his wrists on the table. "Now, cuffs?"

"You try anything and I'll kill you. Understand?"

I didn't want to think about having to kill him - hurting people wasn't something I did lightly - but I didn't want to take any chances.

"I was wondering when someone would say that. That's nothing I haven't been threatened with before, Red."

He seemed really casual about being told he was going to die; definitely something to ask about later.

I pulled out Crescent Rose, letting it unfold into full-on scythe mode, and smiled cheerily. He might have been okay with being threatened, but I don't think he was okay with a girl pulling out a scythe bigger than he was. "Hands, please."

He nervously stuck his wrists out, pulling them as far apart as he could. I was kind of thankful for it, because it made my job of slicing through the cuffs easier. A quick twirl of Crescent Rose and he was free.

"Now, remember what I said about 'try anything and I'll kill you'?" I knew I'd warned him once, but I thought I should do it again with Crescent Rose backing up my words.

He backed away from me and pulled his sleeves over his wrists. "Yeah. I wasn't going to before you pulled out the scythe, and I'm not going to now that you have. That work for you, _pirosarató_?"

"Come again?"

"Red Reaper. You know, you've got a red cloak and a scythe like the Grim Reaper. Therefore, _pirosarató_ \- Red Reaper. Unless you're going to give me a name, I'll use that."

I frowned as I put Crescent Rose back on her rack. "I don't care what you call me, but say it in Valish."

"Red Reaper it is. _Sajnal_ \- uh, sorry. Now, you had plans of taking me to meet someone?"

I waved him to the door. "Follow me closely. Everyone on this base has orders to shoot you if you're alone."

He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Feels like I'm home already. Lead the way."

* * *

I opened the door to Comms and waved Taltos through. "Weiss, you're talking with Ozpin?"

Blake's voice, not Weiss's, was the one to respond. "Weiss wanted to check over some things with our visitor's gear. I was in the area, so I figured I might as well do her job. Ozpin's a little busy, but he'll be free soon. We could take this to Goodwitch, but I know you and her don't mix well."

I smiled weakly. Even after four years, I wasn't sure what Goodwitch wanted out of me. She always made conversations awkward, because she always seemed disappointed or annoyed. "Thanks, but I think we should take what we can get. If Goodwitch is free, we take her."

Blake raised an eyebrow, but still made the call. While the line was connected, she nodded to Taltos. "I guess that's our visitor?"

"'Visitor'? I was under the impression that I was a prisoner; maybe I was a spy or something. Has that changed?"

"You're not a spy - unless you're holding out on us - and you're not a member of the VDF. Officially, the term for you is 'visitor'. Ruby and I are 'Huntress' or 'ma'am'. Is that clear?"

"Very. I'd taken to calling," he nodded at me, "Ruby, wasn't it? I'd taken to calling her 'Red', but if she wants me to call her something else…"

"Call me Ruby. Huntress is my job; it'd be like calling you 'trespasser'."

"Heh. Trespasser's just a small part of my job, Ruby. If you wanted to know what my job was, it's called 'stalker'."

"So you were following us." Blake scowled; she'd had plenty of bad experiences with people following her around. Mostly it was White Fang members trying to bring her back, but there were a few pro-Human people who just thought it was criminal that Faunus could be Hunters.

Taltos took her disdain in stride, to his credit. "Not quite. I would've been better prepared if I wanted to come here. You don't like people following you?"

"Most of them follow me for the wrong reasons."

"Relax, up until two minutes ago I didn't even know catgirls existed; I -"

Blake's scowl turned into a sneer and she started to walk towards Taltos.

" _What. Did you. Just_ -"

I coughed loudly and stepped between them. "The word is 'Faunus', and I think it'd be appreciated if you used that. Right Blake?"

I shot my teammate a stern look until she backed down. Much as she might want to take him down a peg for calling her a 'catgirl', we couldn't let him die until we'd found out as much as we could about him.

"Right. But if he calls me a 'catgirl' again…"

" _I'll_ deal with it."

The last guy who kept calling Blake 'catgirl', or some word like that, had to be rushed to hospital. Spent six months in a coma. If it wasn't for Weiss, Blake'd probably be in prison over that. Not everyone can get away with attacking an important Schnee Dust Company board member.

"He'd better hope you do."

Taltos grabbed me by the shoulder and my hand jumped to Crescent Rose, but he simply pushed me aside.

"Look, if you've got a problem with people who have - and I'm going to stress this - _never_ heard of you or your kind, might I suggest you take it up with whatever decided it'd be funny to drop me into a world of animal-people. That said, if you want to put this to rest now, I'll be happy to oblige you."

Blake looked at me and I could tell she wanted to tear into this guy. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't going to play along. We knew nothing about him, and we weren't going to find out anything new if he was drowning in his own blood.

"Look, if you two want to fight, it can wait until after this call."

* * *

The large screen on the far wall lit up with the face of Professor Goodwitch. As usual when she saw me, it was frowning.

"Miss Rose. I was under the impression that your mission wouldn't require oversight; was I wrong?"

"No, Professor, I don't need oversight. But I thought you might want to know about anything strange that happened while we were here."

Goodwitch leaned back in her chair and adjusted her glasses.

"Is this strange event related to the Grimm activity in the area?"

"Maybe. We have no idea."

"If it's nothing to do with the Grimm, it's not part of your mission. You're there to trim back the numbers and reduce the risk to the local population, not investigate anything and everything that wanders through."

"With respect, Professor, these events _are_ a risk to the population. One of the patrols came back this morning with one extra man. This man came out of one of the…" I knew the official term for things that we'd never seen before was an 'event', but that made it seem random. If what Taltos had said about his experience on the other side of these things was true, then whatever was happening was _not_ random. He'd called them 'anomalies', which at least implied that something was creating them.

"One of the anomalies that have been appearing in our zone. Appearing, might I add, more and more often as we've been here."

I grabbed Taltos by the arm and pulled him into view and watched as Goodwitch leaned forward to try and get a better look. He grinned and leaned over to me. His voice was barely louder than a whisper, so I figured he didn't want Goodwitch to hear his conversation.

"She's your boss, right?"

I nodded, not wanting to give anything away while in the call.

"Okay. Just wanted to know. She's pretty hot."

I cast a sideways glance at Taltos and leaned away from him; there wasn't a world in which I wouldn't find that remark weird, even if he wasn't the first guy to say it. It's gotten to the point that I think Goodwitch has to know and is just playing it up.

"Something I should know about, Miss Rose?"

"Uh, no Professor."

"Very well. Are you going to introduce me to this visitor?" Goodwitch's expression told me that she knew I was lying. Not much I could do about that.

"Sure. This is Taltos. He claims he's from a place called 'Ukraine'. Does Beacon have any records of a place by that name?"

Goodwitch tapped a few commands into her scroll, smirking as she did. "Taltos… Is that really his name?"

"Professor?" I was used to Professor Ozpin being all strange and cryptic, but not Goodwitch.

"Taltos. It's a word from a Mistrali language; means 'wise man'. So, that begs the question, what is a 'wise man' doing where he has no knowledge?"

I glanced at Taltos, eyebrow raised in question. He nodded, a bemused smile on his face.

"She's right. That _is_ what my name means. But it's not a 'Mistrali language', whatever that is; it's Hungarian. As for what a 'wise man' is doing here… Well, I'm sure you're familiar with the phrase 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread'?"

"I've heard of it. Are you telling me your name's related?"

"In a sense. I've never been the first person into anywhere in the Zone, except here. By Zone logic, I'm the wisest man, as I get the loot of the first guy if he dies as well as the first pick of the building's loot. And if my friends could see me now, they'd probably call me 'schastlivchik' - 'lucky man'."

"I wouldn't call being detained by Vale's Defence Forces 'lucky', Mister Taltos."

"It wouldn't be fair if I wasn't. As it stands, I'm on the same military base as at least three reasonably attractive women with an interest in who I am and way the hell away from the Zone. That's lucky by any metric."

"Do not get ahead of yourself, Mister Taltos. As soon as we can, we will be returning you to 'the Zone'. You don't belong in Remnant, and I see no reason to accommodate you. Miss Rose, is it possible to send him back?"

Scientific questions weren't my field, especially if it was dealing with things I'd never seen in person. I did know that Blake had been paying attention to the 'anomalies' that had spat out Taltos, so she seemed like the best choice to answer.

"Uh… Blake?"

"Some of our soldiers have been using the events to dispose of trash and contraband while they've been on-mission, so I think we could send our visitor back through one of those portals without much risk."

Taltos cast Blake a sideways glance as she said 'without much risk'.

"To me or to you guys?"

Blake brushed off his question and continued.

"That being said Professor, I have one reservation about sending him back; the events have been appearing more frequently and in a wider area since we first saw them. He is the only being, living or dead, to have passed through that we know of. If the events are connected to the location he comes from, this 'Zone', then we might be able to use him to shut them down."

"Use him how, Miss Belladonna?"

'"Anyone travelling to the other side would need a guide to be effective there. I suggest a team of Hunters follow Taltos back to his 'Zone' and try to find out what, if anything, could be causing these events on that side."

"And if it's not from Mister Taltos' Zone?"

"Then at least we've eliminated one possibility."

"Suppose I was to follow your suggestion, Miss Belladonna. Who would I send?"

Blake shrugged and gestured to me.

"Team RWBY, obviously. It wouldn't be right to suggest a plan with little chance of return to you and not put myself at the top of the list of volunteers."

"And your mission?"

"Delegate another team. The soldiers here just need oversight and support; they don't care who the Hunters are that help."

Goodwitch took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, replacing them before she spoke.

"Even if I denied you the request, that wouldn't stop you, would it?"

Blake looked at me, with what passed for hope in her eyes. _Blake, I really hope this plan works for us._

"You know we wouldn't tell you, Professor."

Blake smiled as Goodwitch leaned back and sighed.

"Very well, Miss Rose, your request is granted. I'm assigning two teams to fill your team's position. I would suggest you wait for them before you depart."

Goodwitch tapped in a command on her scroll and ended the call. Blake turned to me.

"Thanks for the support, Ruby."

I returned the smile, but I wasn't sure about Blake's reasoning. Goodwitch raised some good points about the portals.

"Here's hoping you're right."

"Let's hope. Has Taltos met everyone?"

"He's still got to meet Yang, then we can get him his kit back."

"Wait, I'm getting my guns and everything back? Firstly, thank you, secondly, you guys were seriously believing that I might be a spy ten minutes ago. Why the change of heart?"

Blake smiled earnestly at Taltos and waved her scroll.

"Aside from the fact that you're in a well-secured military base? The armory just got done inspecting your weapons, and they're not that great. The guns the soldiers carry around outperform it in just about every way. If you were a spy, you would've at least carried weapons capable of killing a soldier. Maybe, if you were well-briefed, you might have something to take down Yang."

"And how do you know I'm not?"

Blake glanced at me, her smile now more smug than kind.

"I think that's the kind of question she'd like to answer personally, don't you think Ruby?"

I shook my head as I thought of what the end result of somebody thinking they could take Yang always was. She'd even turned it into a fight club among the soldiers; five hundred lien for surviving a minute, two hundred for every minute more and, if they beat her, 'a night with the dragon'. It didn't take much to figure out what she meant by that. I found it a little creepy, but she knew what she was doing.

"Tell her we're coming over. Don't want to interrupt her halfway through training."

"I think Taltos would. I'll tell her anyway; she can get warmed up."

I nodded and walked towards the door, waving for Taltos to follow. He was in for a shock if he thought he could beat Yang.

* * *

We were halfway to the gym when Taltos spoke up. "So… Ruby, right?"

"That's my name."

"Blake said you were both 'Huntresses'. In terms of military, what are they?"

I turned around, keeping my pace up; anyone behind me would move out of the way anyway. "What's 'in terms of military'?"

"You know, in armies there's the regular grunts - your ground forces - there's the armored divisions - tanks and armored personnel carriers and their crews - and there's special forces - the people that do things that you can't trust the grunts to do. I gathered that you're not grunts, because I noticed the wide berth the uniformed guys give you. That leaves 'vehicle crews' and 'special forces'. I want to know which group you guys fall under."

I stopped as I thought about where my team fit in Vale's military. "I guess we're… yeah, I guess we're special forces."

I waved for him to walk with me as I turned back around. "Does Ukraine have creatures called Grimm?"

"Like the brothers?"

"Brothers?" I didn't know that Grimm had families. Maybe they did in Ukraine, or maybe it was just a name they gave them.

"Yeah, the fairytale guys. Wrote stories like 'Snow White', 'Cinderella', 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Rapunzel'... you guys have stories like that here?"

"What are they about?"

"The four I mentioned? Girls struggling against an oppressive or abusive elder figure. Well, except Red; Red's fighting against nature. You've never heard of stories like that?"

"Red sounds like a Huntress. But yeah, we do have stories like that. Yang used to read them to me when I was little."

"The same Yang we're going to see now?"

"Yep."

"Is she a close friend or something?"

"She's my sister. She's… she's not like me, though."

"Not like you how? Not like you in that she's not dressed up as a fairytale character, or…"

That was a strange thing to say; 'dressed up as a fairytale character'. I wasn't, as far as I knew.

"What?"

"Yeah, you could pass for university-age Red Riding Hood. Flick the hood up, please?"

I was weirded out by the request, but it was harmless enough. I did as he asked and pulled the hood of my cloak over my head.

"...Holy shit. I'm walking with Grown-up Red Riding Hood. I've fallen into fucking fairy-tale land."

"It's a coincidence that I look like a person from a book in your world. I didn't style myself after her. How do you know she didn't style herself from me?"

It was a pathetic attempt to defend my choices in clothing, but it had to be said. I was not going to accept that the clothes I wore had anything in common with some story-book character without serious proof. Pathetic as my defense was, it still got him to take it kind of seriously.

"Unless you were walking around German forests about 400 years ago, I really doubt a fairy-tale character was based on you."

I flipped my hood back down as we got to the door to the gym.

"I might've been," I pulled the door open and waved for Taltos to enter ahead of me.

"But I think my sister's better for questions like that. Guests first."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey all!

I didn't expect this fic to take off as much as it did! It's kinda scary, because now I've got people paying attention. Not that that's bad; I know what I'm doing with this.

On that note, thank you to Challos for being my editor for this story, and see you all next week with the third chapter.


	3. Chapter 3 - Meeting the Team (Tal)

**ZONE 12 HEADQUARTERS, KINGDOM OF VALE**

 **TALTOS**

'Guests first'. That sounded ominous, Ruby's smile notwithstanding. Of course, it seemed rather apt when I saw the buxom blonde standing over a guy in the lower half of some fatigues and a tank top. I quickly looked over my shoulder to make sure Ruby wasn't locking me in with some crazy-strong girl and took a short sigh of relief when she followed me in.

"Give me a sec, I'll be right with you!"

I looked back at the ring where this blonde was dominating this guy, only to see her pick him up like he weighed the same as a pillow and drop him off the side of the ring onto the floor below. She leaned on the ropes until the guy she'd beaten got up, then she grabbed a jacket from one of the corners.

"Good fight, Cole! Maybe next time you'll actually win some money!"

She ducked between the ropes, walking across the gym to us. "So, Rubes, who's the guy? You didn't find a boyfriend, did you? Because you know what I'd have to do then."

If there were any doubts in my mind about these two being sisters - and the fact that one of them was short, red-haired and , while the other was boisterous, buxom, tall and blond gave me plenty - that opening quip put many of them to bed.

"Yang! He's _not_ my boyfriend!" Ruby's face was a mixture of annoyed and embarrassed. They were definitely sisters. If they weren't, they were so close they may as well have been.

"I'm Taltos, the guy who was brought in from the anomaly this morning."

I thought I should handle my own part of this conversation. If I didn't, I ran the risk of getting caught in sibling teasing that I had no business being part of. "You are…?"

She stuck out a hand and I could _feel_ the heat coming off her. It's cliché to say 'is it hot in here, or is it just me', but I can guarantee she was heating up the room. "Yang's my name, Huntressing's my game. Nice to meet you, Taltos."

I shook her hand and squeezed. Nothing like getting a measure for someone's strength than in a handshake. I was swiftly made to realise my screw-up when she squeezed back and nearly broke my hand. "The pleasure's mine, Yang."

A lie; there wasn't much I find pleasurable about being physically outmatched by a girl years younger than I was, but what was I going to say?

"So, what brings you to Remnant, Taltos?" She shrugged on her jacket and buttoned it up over her neck, giving me the chance to properly look her up and down.

Her jacket was over a cream-coloured top, which itself was over a black undershirt, but I couldn't see any pockets or anything on the tops themselves - strange, considering that Weiss and Ruby both had easily-accessible pockets or pouches to store things on their outfits; in fact, I'd say her outfit was the least practical of the four I'd seen at so far.

Ruby's clothes seemed fitting for long periods out in the field, where resupply might not be an option; Weiss' clothes, or what little I could see of them past the coat, seemed to support her being in cold environments more often than not; but Yang's just seemed to prioritise how they looked over how they worked. That said, she only really seemed to be wearing clothes on her top half; the bottom was thigh-height stockings, held in place by what looked like suspenders connecting to something under her top, and a pair of combat boots. The shoes were practical, which was nice, the girls at least rated three for four on 'shoes that would work in a fight'. Not surprising that two of the ones that passed were sisters - I'd imagine they both had some effect on how the other dressed.

"Truthfully, I don't know. I was dragged into a portal in the Zone and now I'm here, on a military base where four twenty-something year-old girls appear to have free reign of the place."

"Yep. That's pretty much how it is. So, this 'Zone' place, what's that like?"

Strange question, but I guessed it might've been some custom here to ask. "Uh… it's complicated. I can't really be more specific than that."

It can't be _that_ hard to explain; it's a place, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's a place, but it's not a place where everything makes sense."

She chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Remnant's got an entire species dedicated to wiping out humans and Faunus. Tell me how that makes sense."

This was a moment where I was thankful I'd played some video games; one of the ones I'd played - an old turn-based game - had that exact thing as a plot point. "Is Remnant alive? Can it think?"

Her smile turned into a disbelieving smirk. "A planet? Thinking? Are you serious?"

"Well, that's one explanation for your anti-human animals. Remnant's alive and it looks at you as an infestation. The creatures you're fighting are like its immune system."

"Yeah, we've heard that one before," She looked at Ruby for help answering. "Mistral, right? That one cult that said we were a 'blight on the planet'?"

"That was the suicide cult, right?"

"Yeah, I think; 'The Blinded' or something." Yang nodded at me. "So, what about your Zone doesn't make sense?"

Where to start? The anomalies, the mutants, the Brain Scorcher, the military; there was a lot that didn't make any sense at all. "How much time have we got, and is there somewhere comfortable to sit? I don't want to stand around for a few hours talking about how crazy the Zone can be."

She shot a glance to Ruby; it would seem that she was in charge more than I thought.

"We're here until our replacements show up, so I guess we've got time. But, I _really_ want to see how Taltos' gear works. After I've seen that, we can talk about the weird things. Sound okay to you?"

"His gear was all the stuff I saw being brought into the armory, right? Yeah, that looked a little strange as well. Room for one more?"

Ruby snorted. "I'm not going to _stop_ you. It'd be like saying you couldn't go to a museum or something, and I'm not that mean. You're fine watching him?"

"Yeah, but why? You're not coming with us?"

"I'll meet you guys there! Bye!" Ruby's voice seemed strangely further away than it should've been, but turning to where she stood showed nothing but a small rain of rose petals.

"Yang… what the hell just happened?"

She looked at me like I'd just asked her why the sky was blue, but then the fact that I wasn't from Remnant seemed to hit her.

"You don't know what a Semblance is, do you? Sorry, 'dropping out of the sky' is part of Hunter training; we tend to know these things." She stooped and picked up one of the petals from the ground, showing it to me.

"See these? Ruby's Semblance is Speed. She can move _really_ fast. The only way you can tell she's using it is because of these petals; if she's leaving petals behind, she's using her Semblance. If she's not, then she's moving at normal speed. Made hide'n'seek really easy when we were kids." She sighed and let the petal drop from her fingers, a frown crossing her lips for a moment.

"Tough times back then?"

"You could say that. Let's head for the armory."

I nodded and waved for her to lead the way. As far as I was aware, I was still under guard, not to be left alone under any circumstances.

* * *

We had barely left the gym when Yang spoke up again.

"You know, just because Ruby's not here doesn't mean you can't tell me what the Zone's like."

"Figured I'd save on repeating myself and just tell you all when I need to."

"Oh yeah? I didn't know you'd _need_ to tell us."

"Some 'Professor Goodwitch' signed off on a plan to follow me back to the Zone to find out if the portals I came through are coming from there. From what I can tell, it's your team that's coming back with me and, much as I'd love to throw you all in blind - get the authentic Zone experience - you're all _just_ good-looking enough that I'd feel bad if I wound up hurting any of you by not giving you fair warning."

She raised a hand to her chest in mock injury. " _Just_ good-looking enough? I'm hurt."

"Hey, you're not bad-looking; I've just seen hotter."

She laughed at that. "I doubt it."

"You'd be surprised. So, do you still want to hear about the Zone, or can you wait?"

Yang pulled a device out of… I'm not sure where, and looked at something on the screen.

"Eh, it'd be a long quiet walk to the armory if you didn't tell me a _little_ about it. Maybe how it came to be or something, if you're so concerned about repeating yourself."

"Great. Ask me the difficult questions."

She shot me a cocky smile. "That tricky, huh?"

I shook my head. "It's the one thing I don't know much more about than your average history book. 'Finding out how the Zone happened' and 'not getting killed by everything in the Zone' don't exactly meet anywhere."

"Uh-huh. So, what _do_ you know?"

I chuckled. This seemed like the only time that question had been asked today where some deeper meaning wasn't hidden behind it. "That's the question of the day, isn't it? Want me to start from 'where did the Zone come from' or 'how did the Zone form'?"

"Which one do you know better? We're still a way from the armory."

I rubbed my chin in thought. I'd heard a lot of stories about how 'the Zone' came to be, but I had more concrete knowledge about what the Zone was before, well, it became the Zone.

"Alright, let's start with 'how did it form'. You've got nuclear power here, right?"

She shot me a quizzical look, which made me question exactly how advanced things were in Remnant.

"I'll take that as a no. Nuclear power is the reacting of radioactive materials in a container to create heat, which boils water that turns into steam that turns turbines. When things go wrong in these containers - which are called reactors - they explode, unless they are controlled with rods, which interrupt the reactions and prevent the material from destabilizing. Does that make sense?"

"Is it important?"

"You could say it is. April 26, 1986. The V. I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station's Reactor Number 4 was undergoing a systems test. They attempted to shut down the reactor for the test, only for a sudden spike in output to happen. They then tried to use the emergency shutdown, lowering all the control rods - all made of graphite - into the reactor. That made things worse. There were explosions in the reactor, then the graphite was exposed to air. It caught fire and blew up as well, shooting tons of fallout into the sky. Fallout is radioactive dust and ash from a nuclear explosion, in case you didn't know."

"The bits of graphite and everything else that was on fire blew over to Reactor 3, setting the roof on fire. Now, Reactor 3 hadn't failed, so priority was keeping that online. The guy who was running the night shift on Reactor 3 wanted it shut down, but he couldn't make the call without approval from the chief engineer. As a result, the people there were given gas masks and anti-radiation pills and told to keep working."

"While a reactor was on fire next to them? That's crazy."

"Yep. Welcome to the Soviet Union, where your well-being is nothing compared to the state. Which, unfortunately, was the way things went for the firefighters and the residents of the town of Pripyat. The firefighters were dispatched with nothing to protect them from radiation, while the people of Pripyat weren't evacuated until a day after the explosion. By that stage, people were vomiting, complaining of headaches, coughing; basically low-level radiation sickness. They were told that an 'accident' had taken place at the plant, but that they would only be gone for a few days."

"I guess they weren't gone for that long?"

"Longer. When I got brought here, the Zone had been around for twenty-four years. It wasn't always as big as it was when I was there, but it was pretty big. Its first iteration was ten kilometers. Days later, it was expanded to thirty kilometers. Twenty years later, it grew another five kilometers after an explosion vaporized everyone in the original thirty kilometers."

Yang looked at me in disbelief. Evidently, even if she wasn't familiar with nuclear power, she was familiar with the concept of things being vaporised.

"Ridiculous, isn't it? It gets better. Teams that went in to find out what happened - before they knew everyone got vaporized - found that all of the animal life in the Zone was more or less unaffected by this blast. It wiped out people alone. To add to it, these explosions became more regular. Every few months kind of event, but not as powerful as the first one. People could survive those ones. When I got there, these blasts - called 'Emissions' - had expanded the Zone to sixty kilometers and happened about twice a week. All centered on the old NPP."

Yang nodded slowly. I wouldn't have been surprised if the information was a little tricky to remember. "Seems like a pretty bad place. Why go back?"

Ah, an easy question. A personal one, but it's not a history question. "That's a long story. In a word: it's home. It's where I can find friends and safety, but at the same time the thrill of the unknown is literally never further than a day's walk from you. You can't find that kind of… that kind of environment anywhere else."

Yang chuckled at my answer. It wasn't a derisive chuckle, so she evidently understood the sentiment. "You'd fit right in as a Huntsman here. That's basically life on Remnant."

I wasn't sure what she meant by that; she might've been remarking on the way of life, but it's just as likely she could've been trying to get me to admit the Zone was no place to live. "Thanks for trying to sell me on this place, but I'm happy with my sixty kilometers of Hell."

She smiled. "Wasn't saying you weren't."

Something on her clothes beeped and she pulled out a device like what Blake had in Comms. The general look and shape of them - rectangular, grey, kind of like a phone - reminded me of the PDAs that everyone had in the Zone. God knows where they came from, but whichever tech company they belonged to must be making a fortune selling them to Sidorovich.

She shook her head wearily as she read the message on the screen. "We should stop talking and move a little faster. Ruby's getting antsy about your things."

"Why's she 'antsy' about my gear? I thought it was obsolete here."

She looked at me with a confused expression. "Ruby didn't tell you? She's a fan of weapons; a _huge_ fan of them. You've seen Crescent Rose, her scythe?"

"Yes… where is this going?" The weapon was still fresh in my mind, not least because it was almost half again as big as Ruby was yet she could wave it around like it was made of plastic.

"She made that herself. It's also a sniper rifle. Guaranteed to punch through four inches of steel, or that's what she claims. I've seen it in action, and it delivers on that."

I swallowed. The tanks in the Garbage - old T-64s and BTRs from the cleanup of Chernobyl I - had armour that was about half as thick as that. And all that firepower was in the hands of a girl younger than I was, with super speed. What the _hell_ could they be fighting that needed that kind of killing capability?

"If it's any consolation, she won't use it on people. She's pretty hung-up about the idea of killing people as it is. Using 'her baby' would just make it worse."

I laughed nervously. I didn't care what Yang said about her sister, I wasn't going to think I was safe until I'd heard it from Ruby that she didn't like killing people. "So who should I be scared of?"

"You'll learn. It'd be rude to tell you."

* * *

We walked into the armory and found Ruby barely restraining herself from playing with my rifle. She wasn't the only one in the room, either; Weiss and Blake had both busied themselves with different parts of my gear. Weiss was inspecting one of the artifacts they found in my pack - a Kolobok, based on the ball of spikes she held in her hand. Blake, in contrast, was looking at my detector, the same one that found the artifact Weiss held. Curiously, there wasn't an armory technician or anything in sight. Time to pick up the pieces.

"Having fun looking at all my things?"

Ruby and Blake stopped what they were doing when I spoke, but Weiss still seemed lost in the Kolobok. A strange artifact to lose yourself in; most rookies tend to have their first… experience with Stone Flower or Moonlight by a campfire, watching the light play off what's inside. That said, most rookies don't see a Kolobok until months into their stalker life.

The first response came from Ruby, who seemed over the moon that I'd arrived.

"Finally, you made it. Your gun's awesome and retro and I've never seen anything like it outside of museums and can I touch it maybeshootitforabitI'veneverhadthechancetouseoldgunscanIcanIplease?"

She went from calm and reserved to hyperactive child in less than a sentence; the syllable-per-second change was impressive, to say the least. Unfortunately for her, it was all gibberish to me, so I looked to Yang for a translation.

"She wants to shoot things with your gun."

How straightforward. "And what about Blake and Weiss? What parts of my gear are so interesting to them?"

Blake held up my detector and shot me a questioning look. "What's this for?"

I walked over and plucked the detector from her hand and flicked a switch on the side. The circular LED display on the detector lit up as the inbuilt sensors began searching for anomalies in the area. I turned the detector around in my hand and showed it to her.

"In this mode, it searches for anomalies. From the humble Springboard to the annoying-as-fuck Fruit Punch, it spots them all. That is, assuming the Ecologists in Yantar have heard about it," I flicked open the cover on top of the display and the display's lights changed, lines shooting out from the center of the display towards the edges facing Weiss and my pack.

"Now, with the cover opened, it hunts for artifacts produced by those anomalies. At the moment, it's spotting the Kolobok that Weiss has, in addition to whatever artifacts are in my pack." I switched the detector off, placing it in one of the leg pockets on my jumpsuit.

Weiss looked up at the second mention of her name, eyes darting around like she was disoriented. I knew the feeling; I'd lost a night staring at a Snowflake when I first got my hands on it. Shiny, sparkly, spiky artifacts were always good for whiling away the hours, but they came at a cost. That cost, for most artifacts, was a steady dose of radiation. Most of them clocked about a tenth of a gray every minute, which would lead to a lethal dose after 80 minutes. Serious damage took twenty.

"How long has she been holding that?"

Weiss looked back down at the artifact, her eyes fading back into the spikes and warmth of Kolobok again before I plucked it from her hands.

"Does _anyone_ in this room know how long she's been holding that artifact?"

Blake shrugged and shook her head. "Nope. I've been more focused on your technical gear than the rocks you carried."

I sighed and put Kolobok back in my pack. I'm not sure if they just didn't care, or didn't know about radiation poisoning. Considering Yang's response to me asking about nuclear power, I assumed it was the latter.

"They're more than just 'rocks'. They're called artifacts. They have all kinds of strange effects, but most of them, Kolobok included, give you a little thing called 'radiation poisoning'. It's a painful way to die, but it's not immediate. Now, what was the time when you walked in here?" If nobody could tell me how long she'd been holding the artifact, then I'd have to try and figure it out.

"I came in about ten minutes ago. Weiss was looking at that 'Kolobok' when I got here, so at least that long."

Great. At least one gray of exposure. Maybe one and a half. No time for hesitation, as symptoms would manifest within the hour. My hand jumped to my shoulder pouch, where I kept my anti-radiation drugs, but found it empty. Of course, I'd seen them take the pills and syrette out of there when I was brought in. Next step, the Wrenched artifact in my pack. That's got anti-radioactive properties, so it'll do in a pinch. The anti-rad was expensive though, so I wanted to find out what they did with it before I went back.

I pulled the artifact out and gave it a quick look over. It was an ugly thing, like someone had taken an A4-sized piece of swiss cheese and twisted it all out of shape. It didn't look damaged, but I couldn't tell if it was working from the outside anyway. I turned and passed it to Weiss, quietly wondering if they'd confiscated my third line of defense against radiation poisoning. If they had, there'd be hell to pay.

"Hold this. Should get rid of whatever radiation you've picked up." Now that the immediate problems were dealt with, I could focus on my equipment.

"Now, two questions for whoever can answer. One, my anti-rad. A blister pack of pills and a syrette. They _were_ in my shoulder pouch, with a reserve supply in my pack. Where'd they go?"

The girls exchanged looks. Weiss and Blake both seemed to know exactly what I was talking about, but they didn't seem willing to surrender that information. Ruby and Yang, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any knowledge of it. With any luck, the fact that Ruby seemed to be leading the group would help my case.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey all, sorry this one's a bit later than expected, I fell behind on a few things.

For those of you wondering how long until we get to 'CHIKI BRIKI' and all the fun things like that, there's one more chapter to go.

Thanks for editing, as always, go to Challos, and see you next week!


	4. Chapter 4 - Lost in Translation (Blake)

**ZONE 12 HEADQUARTERS, KINGDOM OF VALE**

 **BLAKE**

"Now, two questions for whoever can answer. One, my anti-rad. A blister pack of pills and a syrette. They _were_ in my shoulder pouch, with a reserve supply in my pack. Where'd they go?"

I'm not sure what made him believe he had the authority to ask questions, but the fact that it was his gear we were inspecting gave us some responsibility to answer.

"Any pills or liquids in your pack were sent to the on-site labs for analysis. We weren't taking any chances with what you were carrying. Your second question?"

He raised an eyebrow at the information, before his expression changed to one I can best sum up as 'oh shit' and ducked back over to his pack. He frantically rifled through his pack for a few seconds before thumping the table.

"Something wrong?" The answer was obviously 'yes', but it warranted asking for comedy value alone.

"You took my vodka."

His response came in barely louder than a whisper. I doubted anyone but me heard it, but Yang's bemused laugh proved me wrong.

"Vodka? You're pissed we took _vodka_ off you?"

He turned around, visibly angry that she was mocking his despair.

"Yes. I am pissed you took my vodka. More pissed about that than I am that you took my anti-rad. Anti-rad I can stock up on with the first military patrol I come across. Vodka is _gold_ in the Zone. Yes, make whatever joke you please about drunken Slavs, but it's far and away the cheapest form of radiation treatment in the Zone and it doesn't taste like utter shit. If I find out that I'm down more than one bottle…"

Yang took the threat in stride, walking up to Taltos and clapping him on the shoulder. "I'll top you off from my stash. Because if you try anything, I'll break you in half."

He looked down at her - they had about 5 inches of height separating them - and opened his mouth to say something when he thought better of it, or so it seemed. Yang had that effect on people.

"I'll take that as a 'yes Yang, I won't do anything that'll make you want to beat me'. Now, I need to go save your booze from being pulled apart by the lab techs." Her hand slipped off his shoulder as she turned and left the armory. "Tell me if he does anything stupid, 'kay?"

"Will do. I get first call on punishment, he's got a 'catgirl' remark to pay for."

I didn't have any plans to follow up on that, it was more hazing on my part; entertaining hazing, as it drew a sympathetic wince from Weiss and an audible shiver from Yang.

"Should I get a cleaning crew ready?"

"We're twenty meters from the infirmary, Yang. I'll take him there before I do anything to hurt him."

Taltos gave me a tired look before nodding at Ruby. "Didn't Ruby say _she_ was going to handle any more of that?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. This was something else I could weave into my messing with him. "Ruby's been fighting Grimm since she was fifteen. I've been fighting since I was younger than that. She couldn't stop me if I wanted to hurt you."

I glanced at Ruby, hoping that she'd play along, but she didn't seem to be following my story.

"I said I would be taking care of any issues, Blake, and I _will_. Aren't you supposed to be a good representation of Faunus anyway?"

"Discussion for another time, Ruby." She was right; ever since I stopped hiding the fact I was a Faunus, I knew my actions were being judged as more than just my own. The second curse of being a Faunus in human society.

I turned my head back to Taltos and saw that he'd picked up on the message Ruby gave. He offered me a smile with a vague hint of sympathy behind it; a gesture I didn't particularly want, but accepted all the same. "So, you're the token minority on your team?"

"A crude way of putting it." With a single sentence, the spotlight was on my history. Wonderful.

"How would you put it?"

"Team RWBY's sole Faunus representative."

"Sounds _very_ political. You ever tried to get into politics?"

"Once."

I wouldn't have called the White Fang 'political', but it was the closest I came to actually changing things, for better or worse.

His eyes narrowed as he turned back around to his pack. "Not big on talking, are you?"

"I say what's needed."

"She talks a lot more when it's just us; I don't think she's okay with talking to you."

He snorted as he picked up one of his weapons - an archaic automatic rifle design - and checked the magazine. "Smart girl. She knows how to approach new people. Not too harsh, not too friendly. Just cold. She'll do well in the Zone."

"If you're looking for cold, well, there's Weiss. She's the 'Ice Queen' for a reason."

I looked over at where Weiss was standing, only to see that she was half-leaned against the table, asleep. I thought about breaking out my scroll and taking a photo for blackmail, but decided against it. Ruby'd be asking Weiss more than enough questions about why she was sleeping to make her regret it.

"She's the white one, right? Because she's asleep. Not very frosty."

Ruby glanced over to Weiss and saw the same sight I did. Instead of annoyed, Ruby seemed more exasperated that Weiss had fallen asleep. Our focus soon shifted from the fact that Weiss was asleep - a noteworthy event of itself, considering we had company - to the object Weiss was holding; the 'artifact' that Taltos had given her to counteract 'radiation poisoning'.

The first thought to cross my mind was that the object Taltos had given her had something to do with her current state. The second was that if he'd harmed Weiss in any way, Yang was going to be working with much less of him than I would. The first reaction was me darting over to take the thing out of her hands and check her breathing and pulse.

The 'artifact' was warm, almost body temperature, but hadn't done anything to Weiss that I could see. Her breathing and pulse were both normal, there were no signs of injury on her; for all intents and purposes, she'd dozed off with a warm rock. I wheeled around to Taltos, one hand already going for Gambol Shroud on my back.

"I'm giving you five seconds to explain what you did to Weiss. Talk."

He plucked the rock from my hands, brushing the spot where I'd grabbed it before placing it in his pack.

"Natural side-effect of radiation being drained from the body. The artifacts aren't alive, they don't know to look for the bad radiation, so it goes for all kinds, including radiation naturally emitted through the miracle of existence. Of course, that makes people a little tired, so they fall asleep. She must've been quite tired, because I've seen stalkers about as old as she looks hold one of these things for hours without slowing down."

"So she's not injured?" I wanted exact words, not implications.

"Unless she needs radiation to survive, she's fine."

I kept my focus on him; even if he was telling the truth, I didn't want him to try anything else. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ruby trying to shake Weiss awake, with predictable results. However, what caught my attention more was Taltos reaching for a pistol on the table behind him.

"Hands away from the weapons."

He ignored me and picked up the pistol, pulling back the slide and smiling.

"Put the pistol back on the table." I slid Gambol Shroud out of its sheath and pointed it at him.

"Relax. You want your friend to wake up. I have yet to find someone who hasn't woken up from gunfire."

I twisted the blade against his throat. He was going to put that pistol down if he wanted to live.

"Pistol. Down. Now. Last warning."

He raised his left hand in surrender, while his right slid the pistol into a drop holster on his leg. I kept my weapon on him until that hand came up as well. He might not have put the gun back on the table, but he wouldn't be fast enough to draw before I could do anything.

"It's away. I like having a sidearm, so I'm going to decline putting it on the table, if that's alright by you?"

I scowled at him, but took Gambol Shroud off his neck. He had done what I asked, even if it wasn't exactly what I wanted. That being said, he had a point about gunfire being a universal wake-up call. I flicked the blade down, unlocking the pistol that made up Gambol Shroud's hilt, and fired a short burst into the air.

Weiss shot awake, her hand darting to her sword, while her eyes scanned the room. I replaced the magazine in Gambol Shroud before flicking the blade back into place and sheathing it.

"Sleep well?"

Weiss' eyes locked onto mine and I could tell she was fighting the urge to insult me for interrupting her rest. Her self-control seemed to win out, because she just pushed Ruby away as she stood up, without saying a word.

That's not to say everyone was quiet, as Taltos seemed rather intrigued by Gambol Shroud.

"Your sword is also a gun?"

"Yes, it is. Ruby's scythe is also a gun. Yang's bracelets are also guns. Weiss' sword has a chamber capable of switching Dust in it. You don't have variable-function weaponry where you're from?"

That was a rhetorical question; I had already gathered that weapons like ours, if they even existed in his world, were not the most common of objects. Suffice to say, that gave us a considerable advantage over the residents of the Zone in that regard.

"Underslung grenade launchers and shotguns. We don't have 'look at my sword - oh, look at that - now it's a gun' kind of weapons. There's no point to it."

"I beg to differ, Tal. I think you'll find there's a _lot_ of point to some of them."

Trust Yang to come back with some wordplay.

"Got your vodka back, by the way. Plus one from me."

She walked past me with a backpack, full of glass by the clinking it made as she walked, and placed it on the table by Taltos' pack. He wasted no time opening the pack and counting out the bottles inside, a curt 'thanks' escaping him before he started.

I listened to him counting, but he didn't sound like he was saying anything in Valish. I heard from Ruby that he called her 'pirosharatou' or something to that effect, so I presume it must have belonged to the same language.

He smiled and nodded as he finished his counting, turning back to us with a satisfied smile on his face.

"That's all in order. Second question was 'what to I have to do to get a drink', but I think that solved itself just now."

He pulled a couple of tin cups from inside his pack and cracked one of the bottles. "Anyone else want a drink? Right now I'm pouring for me and Sleeping Beauty over there, but the more the merrier."

Pouring alcohol for Weiss was a mistake; one particularly amusing night demonstrated that she was an incredible lightweight when it came to drinking. If we were still at Beacon, we might have let the offer pass as drunk Weiss is always an entertaining sight, but we weren't, so Yang stepped in.

"The Ice Queen's not so great with drinks, Tal, so I'll take the shot for her."

Taltos stopped pouring, glancing over at Weiss for a few seconds.

"That lightweight?"

"You remember that vodka's pretty hard as far as alcohol goes, right? She gets blackout off one beer. Vodka would destroy her."

Taltos' eyes widened in surprise and he put the bottle down. "Really? Jesus. Alright, that complicates things over there. Hope she's fine with needles."

He picked the bottle back up and filled the cups, placing the top back on the bottle before picking one of the cups up and offering it to Yang. When she took the cup, he picked up the remaining one and raised it.

" _Vashe zdorov'ye_. To our health."

He brought the cup to his lips and drained it in one swig, placing the cup upside down on the table as he nodded to Yang. "Change of heart on the drink?"

She swirled the drink, staring into it in a way that told me she was uncertain about something. To her credit, she hid it well enough that you couldn't notice it unless you knew her incredibly well.

She looked back up, her ever-present smile dispelling any illusions of doubt. "Nope. Just used to drinking from a glass. Cheers." She raised her cup in imitation of Taltos and drained it, slamming it back on the table with more fervor than he had.

As Taltos packed away his things, Ruby's scroll beeped with a message. She checked it, giving us the information inside.

"We've got an incoming Bullhead. Looks like we can get going soon, if that's our replacements. Oh, and they've got two 'unplanned passengers'. Blake? Weiss? You have any guesses about who these guys might be?"

I'm not sure why Ruby jumped to me and Weiss for 'who knows about surprise visitors', but it made sense in hindsight. My past always seemed to be the one coming back to bite us while we were in our early days at Beacon, while Weiss was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company; I can't see anyone on their boards, least of all her father, agreeing to let her go on a potentially one-way trip, regardless of whether or not she had a sister that could fill the role.

"No, I can't think of anyone that'd know. Sun's team's in Mistral, so it can't be him. Adam and I… we said our goodbyes. Weiss?"

"The Company's got friends in high places, but I doubt Professor Goodwitch would tell them about this. Even if she did, there's no Bullheads that could get here from Atlas in under an hour."

"Local rep?"

"My father wouldn't leave something like this up to anyone but himself. Possibly Winter, if he was incredibly busy. They're both in Atlas, so it's not anyone coming for me."

Yang strolled over to the armory door, a bit more of a spring in her step than before. "Then it's two random people that we have no idea about. Not everyday that happens, so let's go see who it is."

Ruby and Weiss both looked at Taltos, as he was still making sure he wasn't missing anything. I knew why they were looking; they didn't want to leave him unsupervised in a place full of weapons and ammunition. Sensible concerns.

"I'll stay here and make sure he doesn't touch anything he's not supposed to. You three can go out and be the welcoming party, and I'll join you when he's done."

They nodded and left the armory, leaving me alone with Taltos. Normally, I'd be looking to question him about the Zone, but there were more pressing matters, namely the two 'unplanned passengers' on the Bullhead. Personal experience told me that 'unplanned passengers' were normally high-priority individuals: high-ranking military commanders, politicians, relevant Hunters. If it was a flight to a classified base, you might have prisoners on that list as well. The question on my mind was which of those categories the two passengers would fit in.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey all!

This chapter's pretty weak, all told, but that's why there's two going up today. Consider it my way of saying 'sorry' to any RWBY fans who didn't think I handled Blake's mind well.

For you S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans, I have this: 'Chiki Briki soon'. It might not be all you were hoping for, but it's not the last time I'll use it either.

Thank you to Challos for editing, as always.

See you next week for Chapter 5!


	5. Chapter 4 - Lost in Translation II (Tal)

**TALTOS**

I watched the girls file out, leaving the 'Faunus' with me. Still wasn't sure why she was so insistent on being called that. 'Catgirl' might be derogatory to her, but it's still accurate. Besides, I could think of a dozen less complimentary words to describe her.

"So, you're my new babysitter?"

"Only for as long as you take to get your things packed. Then you're out with the rest of the team."

"To meet a few people, if I heard right. Your replacements, and some new people. 'Unplanned passengers', hm?"

"People who don't, or can't, disclose their reasons for being on board. It could be bad for you."

The tone with which she spoke seemed to suggest that these passengers could be members of some shady organisation; their CIA or KGB or FSU or whichever acronym they so chose. Whatever group they belonged to, they couldn't compare to a Controller.

"Can't be worse than what I've dealt with in the past. Let them come."

"Being brave isn't going to impress me."

I laughed as my hands tracked over the things I had left to pack away. If she thought I put on brave faces to impress women, she was about a year too late. Besides, I've had an interesting enough life to not need the brave face.

I reached for my rifle next, as while Mikhail Kalashnikov may have wanted his rifles to go through everything and still shoot, I don't think trans-dimensional portals were on that list. The check was simple: remove magazine, eject round, cleaning rod out from under the barrel and tools out from in the stock, then lay into the body. Get the bolt out, et cetera, make sure all that was in working order, then piece it all back together. Last stage was the one I didn't think I could get away with.

"Mind if I dry-fire this thing? No rounds loaded, just making sure the mechanisms all went back in as they should've."

She reached up and plucked the gun from my hands. Like Yang, she seemed unusually strong for her size. I wondered if that was something endemic to Remnant; that the girls were all unusually strong, or if it was just a product of their pseudo-military job. She raised my rifle to her shoulder, adjusted the sights a little, then pulled the trigger, producing a single 'click' from the mechanism.

"It's working."

I took my gun back, inserting the magazine in and chambering a round before engaging the safety and placing it by my pack.

"Thank you for checking."

The rest of my gear, save my respirator, could all be thrown in my pack kind of crudely; I didn't have much need for anything I hadn't already taken care with. The respirator went around my neck, with a quick puff to clear any dust from the inside of it.

"I'm ready if you are. Let's go introduce me to some more people."

She responded with a short nod to the door; likely meaning that she'd follow me out. I put on my pack, adjusting the straps until it felt like it was never there before slinging my rifle over my shoulder.

* * *

We didn't have to travel far to find the rest of them, as their meet-and-greet took place on the courtyard that near-everything seemed to connect to outside. At a glance, I could see thirteen people on the courtyard. If Hunter teams were of a similar size to the one I'd met, that meant they were getting two replacement teams, as three of those thirteen were Ruby, Weiss and Yang. The other two that wouldn't be part of a team was a woman in red and black, who looked suspiciously like a black-haired Yang - albeit a lot more modest in the chest department - and a guy in cuffs like I wore and a tracksuit. That wasn't promising, if he was what I thought he was.

As we got closer, the group turned to focus on us, and the guy in the tracksuit lost his proverbial mind and started shouting in a language I knew well. Looks like I wasn't the only one who fell out of the Zone this morning.

"[What the fuck?! I get beat up by a woman and arrested, and fucking _Loners_ are behind it all?! What in the fuck did I do to deserve this shit?]"

His angry shouts were cut short as the red woman's elbow rammed him in the gut. "I still have no idea what he's saying. If it's a language, it's not one that's found on Remnant."

My time to shine.

"Hi, I'm the guy they found this morning. I know what he's saying, if you want me to translate."

The red woman regarded me sceptically, but shoved the bandit forward. "Go ahead. Ask him where he's from first."

The bandit stumbled towards me and fell onto his face. Either he wasn't the soberest when they found him, or he had terrible balance. Didn't matter to me, because he spoke serviceable Russian. I picked him up and brought his head level with mine. I let a grim smile form on my lips, because there was one phrase I wanted to use on people like him ever since I first heard it in the Zone. It's a nonsensical one, but the meaning would be clear to him.

" _Privyet, suka. Chiki-Briki i v damke._ "

The first sentence was a hello. The second was a phrase they used to tell each other they were flanking, or that their prey was helpless. Seeing as he was cuffed, he was _very_ helpless.

"[You shit. Fuck you! You don't have shit against me! 'Chiki Briki' my ass! I'll fucking-]"

"[You can't do anything, you stupid fucker. You're in handcuffs. I? I'm not in cuffs and I have guns. See these girls? I could shoot you in front of them and they wouldn't do anything. You chose the wrong day to be a bandit.]"

"[You chose the wrong day to be a stalker, asshole. When my bros find me-]"

"[They won't. How new _are_ you? Your bandit pals are more pissed that they didn't get your loot before you got sucked into that anomaly than they are that you're dead. I guarantee it. So, I'm going to give you a choice. Work with me and _maybe_ get back to the Zone; or don't and never see an Earth sunrise again.]"

"[An _Earth_ sunrise? We're still on Earth, you stupid fuck! These are all people around us, not fucking big-head green men!]"

I chuckled. He had no idea what he'd stumbled into, and it was kind of funny to hear someone so lost. "[You know, that doesn't matter. Say we're still on Earth. What are you going to do, sit pretty until your 'bros' get here? You can play nice, we let you go, tell them you escaped like a badass; or you can keep being a dick, not cooperating, and you'll never see the outside again. What's it going to be?]"

Normally, I wouldn't even be giving a bandit like him the time of day. However, I didn't think shooting him in the head would make a good impression on everyone here. So, in the interests of fostering goodwill, I was being diplomatic. As I expected, that diplomacy got repaid in typical bandit fashion.

He smirked at me, then spat in my face. Saved me a lot of effort, as I'd actually have to translate for him if he cooperated.

"[Your loss, dumbass.]"

I drew my pistol from its holster and shot him in the leg, his smug smirk swapping itself for an anguished yell. I snapped the pistol up to his head as he dropped to his knees, letting the barrel rest on his forehead before I pistol-whipped him, shutting him up.

When I looked back up, I could see that everyone present had drawn their weapons and had them pointed at me. The scope of them - humble swords all the way to Ruby's own sniper scythe - was impressive and amusing. I never expected to see a sword next to a multi-round grenade launcher in my life, but here it was. In any case, top priority was making sure I didn't get lit up by all of those weapons.

"He didn't have anything to say that you would've found useful. As for what you _would_ find useful, there's not much. He's from the Zone, like me. He's a bandit, unlike me. He hasn't spent a lot of time in the Zone, because he thinks bandits are honorable. That's everything."

Ruby was first to respond. "So you shot him?"

"In the leg. I would've shot him in the head, but I didn't think any of you would like that."

"That doesn't make it _right_."

I slid my pistol back into its holster; I didn't think they were going to ease up until I disarmed. "No, but it shows him you're not messing around. You want to try and sweet-talk him into giving up everything he knows, feel free to try. I've got better things to do. On that note, when are we leaving?"

She turned to one of the other Hunters, who was in full plate armor and wielding a sword. He wouldn't have looked out of place in a medieval history book, come to think of it.

"Jaune, you think you can handle things from here?"

Another one of them, holding a longbow and sporting some kind of leather armor, stopped aiming at me and turned to them. "And what about us? We all know Jaune's going to drop everything and follow you guys into wherever the hell you're going."

"Kelly, you know you can get reports as well, right? You don't have to wait for Jaune to ask for them and steal them when he's not looking?"

'Kelly' sighed, slinging her bow over her shoulder. "Fine… Half the fun of going out on joint ops is seeing how much you can bag off the other team, but I'll work with this. Good luck and everything."

'Jaune' looked at her with a suspicious eye as he sheathed his sword. It'd seem that my shooting the bandit was slowly being forgotten by everyone, which was good. "So _that's_ what's been happening to all my things? Ooh, have I got some apologies to make. Uh, I'll be fine, by the way. This isn't the first time we've had to pick up where you guys left off."

Ruby smiled, almost as though she was apologising, sliding Crescent Rose back onto the sheath-plate on the small of her back. God knows how it managed to get itself down to a rectangle the size of her arm without breaking any of the mechanisms, but it must've worked somehow.

"Yeah… but you guys are reliable and stuff, y'know?"

"Yep, I know. To be honest, I think Pyrrha likes it this way. You get all the limelight for saving the world or bringing down huge criminal organisations or whatever, while we're just the 'B' team that goes in for clean-up."

"Feel free to come along next time we're doing some world-saving and take a little bit of the action yourselves. I don't think any of us'd complain."

"Maybe when things calm down around here. That being said, I think your friend wanted to go do some world-saving?"

"Not so much 'world-saving' as 'getting home', but I'll run with whatever reason you want." I looked at Ruby, as she was the one technically in charge. "Do we have a plan for that yet?"

"You're ready to go?"

"Wouldn't be out here if I wasn't." Rule 1 of the Zone: Don't leave anything behind that you can't afford to buy next time you're near a trader. Unless it's an artifact.

"Great! Uh, bye Jaune, don't break anything while we're gone."

'Don't break anything'? Ruby had told me that Hunters were basically special forces. I'm familiar with mocking somebody for one screw-up - the 'screw one goat' principle - but the look on his face seemed to suggest that it was more regular than once or twice. Either way, his expression told me that he didn't like being reminded. Ruby seemed to miss it, as she happily led her team off to what I assume was the motor pool, if the vehicles were any indication.

* * *

We slowed as they came up to the gate, likely because of the jeep rolling up on the other side. The jeep drove up to us and came to a halt, the soldiers inside offering us a ride.

"Heard you guys might want a ride out to the disturbances. We loaded up a few of them in the GPS, if you're fine with sharing a jeep."

Blake spoke up, her tone coming off as dismissive more than anything. "And if we're not?"

"We'll give you free reign. We just heard your trip might be one-way, and I'd hate to leave a PV out in the wilderness."

PV. Patrol Vehicle, if my memory of military acronyms served me right.

"Room for five?"

"Five? You're bringing the prisoner along?"

"He's our guide, Corporal. He's here, why not use him?"

"Wasn't questioning your judgement, ma'am; just surprised that you're letting a prisoner come with you on field ops."

"Leave the prisoner to us. We'll handle him if he tries anything. Ruby?"

"Uh… mount up, I guess. It'd be rude to turn them down."

"Three in the back, two in the bed. Who wants what seat?"

Yang moved towards the bed of the jeep, clambering in as she spoke. "Me and Blake take the bed, you and Weiss can guard Tal in the back?"

The nickname Yang gave me was endearing, if a little strange to hear. Her seating plan was sound, though; keeping me under watch while also making sure I couldn't sneak out somehow.

"Sounds good. Weiss, you get in first, then Taltos, then me."

Yang nodded, offering a hand over the side to Blake to help her up. Not that she needed it, the bed was maybe five and a half feet off the ground.

"Come on, kitty-cat. You're with me."

So Yang could say that to Blake, but I was physically threatened for calling her 'catgirl'. What a strange set of standards. I filed it away in the back of my mind as I climbed in behind Weiss. Could make for an interesting conversation to while away the hours in the Zone, should push come to shove.

* * *

I fidgeted with the safety on my rifle as we drove towards the anomalies. Strange how the closer I was to getting back to the Zone, the less I wanted to go. I'd forgotten just how peaceful it was not having to look for anomalies and mutants everywhere, to say nothing of the fact that emissions were a distant memory here.

That said, I could see the faint ripple of a Springboard in the distance. Springboards didn't exist here, as far as I knew, nor were they so noticeable, so that must have been the portal we were heading for.

Ruby nudged me, offering a small device that looked like a Bluetooth headset. "Radio. Probably a good thing to have if you're guiding us."

I nodded and put the earpiece in, adjusting the microphone until it pointed to my mouth. It was a change to what I was used to; most stalkers, myself included, used PDAs that didn't have an actual radio built in. The closest we got to that was brief audio messages, pre-recorded and used whenever there was a major event. Things like 'Blowout soon, fellow stalker' and the like.

"Taltos, your radio's working?"

Ruby's voice echoed into my head with surprising clarity; most radios I'd listened to had a fair amount of static interrupting the line. The fact that she was sitting next to me might have eased the issue considerably, but it didn't account for the fact that I could hear her in near-perfect stereo.

"Yes, it's working."

I leaned forwards as the jeep slowed to a halt.

"Alright Huntresses, end of the road. The event you're looking for is about a hundred metres dead ahead. We'd take you closer, but the steering's already a little shaky this far out."

Ruby nodded and hopped out of the jeep, leaving me to follow behind while Weiss climbed out the other side. We formed up around the back of the jeep, taking one final moment to make sure everything was in order before we went portal-hopping. My opportunity to get things straight before it was too busy to, as well.

I cast an eye over the four girls, making a note of both their weapons and clothing and how suitable they'd be in the Zone. First up, Ruby. Bulletproof clothes, based on her occupation, which'd work well out there. And a giant scythe that shot anti-tank rounds. She'd do well.

Next, Weiss. Overcoat was promising, but too cumbersome for practical use. I hadn't had a glimpse of what was underneath, so I couldn't pass judgement there. Her weapon looked like it was a rapier, albeit one with a fancy rotating guard. No ranged capability, no slashing edge. Terrible weapon, I'd need to trade her up as soon as I could.

Thirdly, Blake. Midriff-exposing shirt was bad, but the rest was solid. Full-length pants and sleeves, high-heeled boots can be forgiven on account of them not seeming to hamper her movement; the only issue I could see lay with the ribbon wrapped around her wrists. Loose fabric wasn't good, no matter the reason. Her weapon - the sword-pistol I'd been introduced to earlier - was a little more personal than Ruby's, but still worthwhile all the same. While Ruby could kill tanks, Blake could kill people.

Last on the list was Yang. She was the one I was most concerned by, because her clothes seemed more fit for a night on the town than roaming the Zone. So many belts, so much exposed skin. It wasn't indecent, but it was useless. About the only saving grace was that it covered most of her torso. 'Most' being the operative word, because it was proudly displaying her assets. And I was going to be bringing her into a world where I could count the number of women on one hand.

Time would tell how long this arrangement would last. "Alright you four, final things to clear up before we go through.

One: I am not your prisoner; you are my clients. I will do as much as is needed to keep you alive until you get to your destination. No more, no less.

Two: No matter what I say, you do _everything_ I tell you. I tell you to jump, you don't ask 'how high', you jump. I tell you to run, you run. I tell you to hug dirt, you get on the ground.

Three: You are going to be the single largest group of women to wander the Zone. That's going to draw attention, good and bad. Do not do anything, or talk to anyone, unless I'm with you.

Four: Everything in the Zone wants to kill you. Approach everything with that mentality, and you might live more than a day.

Four: Fuck-all people are going to speak English, but lots will understand it. People are going to talk to you, but you can tell them you don't speak Russian. They try and do anything further, find me.

That brings us to point five: _DO NOT_ take matters into your own hands. I don't care if they copped a feel or tried to go a little further south, it's easier to explain me killing a guy than it is to explain you doing it. Any questions?"

Weiss coughed and raised her hand. "The examples you're using… They _are_ exaggerations, right? We're not actually going to experience that?"

"The Zone is harsh and unforgiving. Every example I gave you is accurate to a point. Past that point is where nobody has survived or experienced. The reaction to you? I have no idea. It's probably worse than what I'm telling you."

I saw Yang step forwards slightly, as though she was placing herself between some imaginary threat and the rest of her team. An admirable mindset.

"Question?"

She shook her head. "Let's go." Straight to business. Even if she didn't have the clothes for the Zone, she just might have the mind of a stalker.

I looked over my charges one more time to make sure they didn't have any questions, then unslung my rifle. "No questions? Good. Time is wasting, Zone is waiting; let's go."

I waved for them to follow as I walked towards the anomaly. Let the harsh lessons begin.


	6. Chapter 5 - Welcome to Zona (Yang)

**THE 'DARK VALLEY', THE ZONE, UKRAINE**

 **February 15, 2012 - 12:03 p.m.**

Two men stood around a faint rippling in the air, idly throwing bits of trash into it. One of them, clad in a trenchcoat despite the sun beating down on them in the concrete pool, threw a bolt into the ripple as he asked the other a question.

"So, what's Karlov so interested in this anomaly for again?"

The other one shrugged, throwing a half-smoked cigarette into the ripple. "One of the guys said it ate Pirosov. I guess we're here in case it spits out his gear or something."

An empty vodka bottle went into the ripple.

"Seriously? Dude was with us for a month, tops. He couldn't have grabbed anything worth waiting for."

"He _did_ find a couple of artifacts a couple of days back. Stupid bastard didn't hide the glow well enough. Looked like a Soul and a Mama's Beads."

The trenchcoated man laughed, throwing a spent shotgun shell into the ripple. "How considerate. When he gets back out of this anomaly, we can beat him for longer, and we don't have to worry about beating him too badly."

"How do you know he's getting out?"

"Two things. One, there's no body. Two, he's not smeared all over the base. Unless he fell into a Space anomaly, he's getting back out."

The other man nodded, picking up a can off the ground. "Hey, where do you think all this shit goes, anyway?"

"Fuck if I know. You want to find out, go right ahead and jump in. Just leave your kit here first."

He snorted and threw the can at the ripple. "Fuck you, I might need it. I-" He stopped as the can didn't vanish into the ripple like he intended, dropping to the ground instead.

"The fuck?"

"Maybe it didn't like your can."

He walked over to the can and picked it up, throwing it at the ripple again, only to have it drop to the ground again. "Stupid fucking anomaly. Throw a cigarette, throw a vodka bottle, throw a shotgun shell; all that shit's fine, but I can't throw a fucking _can_? That's bullshit."

A third attempt at throwing the can through the anomaly was interrupted by something coming out of it - a human, to be precise.

"Hey, Pirosov, that you?"

The human paused, the rippling anomaly behind him obscuring some of his movements and muffling his speech. What the anomaly couldn't muffle was the unmistakable crack of gunfire, as two short bursts blew through the bandits, clearing the way for the anomalous traveller.

"Fucking great. Just get back from another planet, and my welcome party is Bandits. This'll be fun."

* * *

 **YANG**

I watched Taltos step into the 'anomaly', as he called it, and vanish from Remnant. It was kinda surreal to see, because there wasn't even a hole or anything. It was like he walked into thin air. In my experience, that's how all crazy adventures start, unless they start with 'you all meet in an inn'.

I'm kidding; there's only been two people I've known who teleported into thin air, and one of them was a psycho. The other is... well, it's kind of a long story. So, by my guess, we had a fifty-fifty chance of stepping into his home ground where we would suffer a terrible and undignified death, or getting on with a mission of mind-blowing scope.

Only fair that I go in first.

Heading through the portal was interesting, mainly because I'd never been through one of those things before. No rush of colors, no weird 'woosh' noise, just bright white everywhere until you pop out on the other side.

Right into a firefight, as it happened. The portal dumped me - and Taltos, once I had a look around - into some weird concrete-lined pit, with guys in tracksuits and trenchcoats lining one side and firing in, but they stopped when they saw me. Tal was taking cover under that side, so I figured they weren't friendly to him. Never hurt to check before I started laying into people, though.

"Tal! Friends of yours?"

"Does this look like 'Hey Taltos, we missed you'?"

I looked up at them, all menacing in their dark coats and tracksuits - as menacing as someone could be in a tracksuit - and decided to have a little fun. "Could be. I don't know how things work here."

He gave me a look like I was, well, from another world. He wasn't wrong, but it was funny. "Hey, I'm messing with you. I know that guns generally don't mean 'hi'."

"Right. Meet the Bandits. They wear trenchcoats and tracksuits and would like nothing better than to rob you blind. They've never seen a woman since they fled whatever town they called home, so they're probably a little stunned. If you and the- hey, where are the others?"

I turned around and saw that I was the only one of the team that had decided to head through, unless the others had gotten stuck in the portal somehow.

"I have no idea. Probably on their way. Meantime, you want these guys dealt with, right?"

"The ones above us?" Blake walked up behind me, quiet as ever until she talked. Lucky me that I was used to her doing that, or else I would've looked really stupid.

"Hey Blake. How far off are the others?"

"Ruby's still trying to convince Weiss to come through. I'd say another couple of minutes."

"Cool. And yeah, guys up there aren't friendly, but they're keeping Tal pinned down here." I waved at them; the longer we could keep them confused about how and why we were here, the better. "Think we should kick things off?"

"You have a plan?"

"My plan was 'beatings for everyone', but if you've got a better idea…?"

"I could use a little height. Normally we're the ones with the high ground."

I grinned and bent down slightly, interlocking my fingers to give her a step. "Whenever you're ready. Just give me some heads-up for how you want to do this."

She tucked her swords close, and took a run at me. Her foot hit my hand and I hefted her up, flinging her easily twenty feet straight up into the air, over the guys above us. There were a few yells, but nothing I understood. Their tones said 'confused', but that soon changed. Blake's voice, in contrast, stayed cool and calm in my ear.

"Fifteen-plus guys. Rifles, some pistols. No armor to speak of. My recommendation's Bacchanalia."

'Bacchanalia' was one of the callouts Blake had come up with. She'd come in high, landing in the middle of a group of enemies and slashing at anything that couldn't get out of range of her swords. My part in it was to come in as a clean-up crew when the opposition had recovered.

The shouts soon stopped and were replaced by gunfire; my time to shine. I let Ember Celica unfold on my wrists and aimed at the ground. Everyone tells me 'rocket-jumping' is a terrible idea, but it hasn't blown up in my face yet. Quick hop, two shots, and I'm over the rim. Nice and easy.

The sight I was treated to as I came up was… pretty normal, for Blake. There were guys all over the place, and a few bits of guys - arms, legs, whatever you wanted. There were a couple in punching range, so I got them first. For all the awesomeness having wrist-mounted rocket launchers gave you, they still fired rockets. Even an idiot can get out of the way of a rocket at a hundred meters.

Blake was a blur, but I didn't take long to hit my stride. Punch one guy, shoot, use the recoil to send my elbow into another, rocket over to another group, rinse and repeat. It might sound wrong, but I was hoping for an actual challenge from these guys. Instead, I got guys who went flying fifty feet off a single hit. Nothing like what I was used to back on Remnant.

Soon, though, I saw a red blur working its way around the field, showing that my sister had just joined the game. She wasn't an area fighter like me or Blake; her strategy was more one-on-one - just grabbing individual guys and ramming them into whatever she could get. Speed kills, not that she wanted to think she was killing them. Seeing as Ruby was here, that could only mean she'd convinced Weiss to come along, so I kept an eye out for the glyphs that were her handiwork. Anyone who was stepping on those would have a bad day, and I didn't have plans on ruining mine.

That's not to say her glyphs were bad news all the time; they had their uses, but mostly those uses were freezing people solid or flinging them around like they weighed nothing at all.

That being said, they made _amazing_ launch pads, if you could set them up right. Lucky for us, Weiss definitely did. Didn't have to give her much, just a location you wanted to jump to. In this case, it was the third storey of a building. A few of these 'bandits' had holed up in there; probably because they'd seen what we were doing to their friends out in the yard and didn't want to get torn apart.

"Weiss! Red building, third floor!"

"Window?"

"Don't care, just get me in there!"

The guys in that floor had managed to get their act together more than the ones in the courtyard, because they'd started shooting, and hitting. Their shots weren't breaking through my Aura, but I could definitely feel them landing.

"Five steps behind you; you're going to need a grip."

Weiss' nickname - 'The Ice Queen' - started because we were making fun of how prim and proper she was, and how she always thought she was better than us - something she quickly learned she was wrong about - but we kept it because of the way she acted in a fight. Look at her when she's on a base, you'll see the same old high-and-mighty heiress to Schnee Dust Company that we saw four years back. Take her out into a pitched battle, that all changes. She stops being annoyed at little things, the emotion drains from her voice; it's like night and day.

I stepped back towards the glyph, grabbing onto the edge when I could reach it. "Give me a count, Weiss."

"Three…" I could feel the glyph changing under my fingers.

"Two…" It got colder.

"One…" My hand loosened; the last thing I wanted was to break my fingers in the rush of air.

"Launching." I felt the air rush in behind me, shooting me off the glyph and at the building I asked for. Those guys won't know what hit them. Well, they'll probably see the blonde girl hurtling towards one of the windows, but they won't be expecting the beatdown I'll be handing out. Especially not the one who happened to be in the end window Weiss chose for me to enter. Poor guy.

I made it quick for him; a fist to the face as I came in. Not to say I was slower with the others - I don't think they could've held up to any more than what I was dishing out - but he hit the wall behind him hard enough that he went through, so I'd say it was pretty quick.

The guy next to him wasn't as lucky. He was dumb enough to try and shoot me once I punched his buddy into the next room. I was feeling fair, so I let him take a few shots before I grabbed him. He was surprisingly light, given the coat he was wearing. One hand lift and throw into the next guy. He wasn't gone, so I figured I'd save myself a little time and send both of them out the window. Would it kill them? Probably, but I don't think we were playing safe anyway. Blake wouldn't have gone in first if we had, because she's arguably the most lethal out of all of us.

The rest of the floor was easy. Sure, a couple of them managed to get a few shots on me, but nothing that broke through. I'm not sure if that was because they were terrible shots in general or because their guns were weak. Didn't matter to me, because I just breezed through them like it was a leisurely stroll. A bad-guy-filled, beating-heavy leisurely stroll.

* * *

Around the same time I ran out of guys on my floor, I heard things get quiet outside. I keyed the radio and tried to raise one of the team outside. I didn't know if our radios would work here, but it never hurt to try.

"You guys done out there as well?"

"Run out of guys on your floor?" Blake's voice was a little tired, but I could tell she was looking for more.

"Just hit a quiet moment. Noticed there wasn't any more yelling or shooting coming from outside, so I figured I'd call ahead."

"Yeah, we're done outside. Need a hand upstairs?"

I saw one of the bandits I'd hit try and reach for his gun, but kicking that away solved the problem for a little while. "No, just got the one guy left. I'll be out soon."

I walked over to the bandit that was still breathing and crouched down next to him.

"Hey, buddy. You speak Valish?"

" _Suka. Prosto ubit' menya uzhe._ "

"I'm guessing that's a 'no'. Do you know what I'm saying? Nod for yes, shake your head for no." I mimicked the actions as I told him what to do. Not that it helped, because all he did was spit on my boot and say 'suka' again.

"Oh well. Good thing I've got a friend that can talk for you. Up you get." I picked up the bandit by his coat and dragged him to the window.

"Okay, I'm going to need you to hold on. Don't get any ideas, or you'll be talking through broken teeth." I lifted him over my shoulders, bracing him against my neck. Terrible idea, seeing as we were dropping about thirty feet straight downwards, but I didn't want to just drop him out the window alone. "Ready? Down we go!"

I leapt out the window, making sure to keep my feet underneath us the whole way down. The last thing I wanted was to land on this guy, though the noise he was making gave me the idea that knocking the wind out of him wouldn't be that bad of a plan. Lots of shouting, a little screaming, all for a thirty-foot drop.

We hit the ground and I dropped him pretty much straight away. Shouting Dust-knows-what into my ear for a short drop is one easy way to really get under my skin. It's not _that_ scary. However, I noticed he wasn't moving or speaking, so either he passed out or I dropped him hard enough that he died.

When I'd made sure I hadn't hurt him too badly with the drop, I looked at the mess all around me. There were a few guys who weren't dead - probably Ruby and Weiss' work - but they didn't look like they were getting back up anytime soon. There were limbs _everywhere_ , though, and I'll chalk that up to Blake. Two swords, with one of them attached to a ribbon on her wrist, are not the kind of weapons that make for non-lethal takedowns.

"What. The fuck. Are you girls?"

I turned at the voice and found it was Taltos asking us the question.

"What, you've never seen a handful of girls take on twenty or thirty guys in a fight without taking a hit?"

He shook his head and I could see a little disbelief sneaking in. "No, but that's not what I'm getting at. You picked her up," he nodded at Blake, "and threw her thirty, forty feet straight up. She looks like she weighs maybe eighty kilos. I can't think of anyone who could throw eighty kilos forty feet in the air. So I think I'm justified in asking what in the fuck you girls are, because none of you are human."

"All of us, Blake obviously excluded, are just as human as you are, Taltos."

Weiss beat me to the punch on the reply, but I was fine with letting her take it; she had a special thing about being thought of as human. Probably a holdover from her parents; I never asked.

"Bullshit. I'm one hundred percent human and I can't move half as fast as Ruby can, nor can I throw other people forty feet in the air. I heard Ruby's speed was caused by a thing called a 'Semblance', but I had fuck-all explanation of what that was. Seeing as I'm working with four girls who could put the goddamn Spetsnaz to shame, I want to know _everything_ you can do. Right now. With explanations."

"Everything? You sure you're ready for _everything_?" We'd been fighting at the limit of what we could do - Ruby and myself excluded - but it never hurt to say we could do more.

"I've fought monsters that can get inside my head and do things I don't think languages have words for. I've fought monsters that have tried to treat me like a giant bag of juice and suck me dry. I doubt any of you can muster things worse than that."

Monsters? I guess Ruby won't be holding back the whole time that we're here.

"So, Tal, you want everything? Hope you're comfortable, because this could be a while."

While any of us could've done a quick run-down of what each of us could do, I was arguably the most showy. I strode over to Ruby and placed one hand on her shoulder, while my other one glided down beside her. "First stop on our power trip is my little sister, Ruby Rose."

"Yang…"

"Lil' Rubles here-"

"Yang!" She tried to elbow me in the stomach, but I knew where to stand to dodge that.

"As I've told you, has a Semblance that lets her move at blinding speeds. Not blinding to her, of course, but blinding to just about anyone else. Now, what's a Semblance, I hear you ask? I have no idea, I didn't study biology. Her weapon - the High-Caliber Sniper Scythe Crescent Rose - is, like the name suggests, a sniper rifle capable of busting a tank or particularly large Grimm, and also a scythe capable of slicing through anything we've tried it on. Don't think she's all about speed, though, because I've put her through a thorough training regimen that ensures she can beat almost anyone I can think of in a fist-fight."

"Two questions-"

"Please save all questions for the end of the presentation, thank you." I could've answered them, but I was on a roll. Didn't want to lose my groove because I was taking questions from the audience.

I strolled up to Weiss, number two on our team's roster, and repeated what I did with Ruby. "Next stop is the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, 'Ice Queen' Weiss Schnee. She's nothing to Schneeze at, ladies and gentlemen, despite her small size."

"Hey!" Weiss hated jibes about her height, but it didn't change the fact that Ruby was a couple of inches taller than she was, and two years younger.

"Her Semblance is… well, I don't have a word for it, but it involves things called 'glyphs'. These glyphs can do just about anything, from speeding things - and people - up, to covering a small area in ice, fire, rock or whatever else she has loaded into Myrtenaster. What's Myrtenaster? It's her sword. Looks like a toothpick, plays like a sword, but it's more than just a sword. See the shiny multi-colored guard? The colors aren't for decoration. Each of those colors is a type of Dust she uses to charge her glyphs."

"Dust?"

"All questions will be answered at the end of the presentation."

I walked over to Blake, who was more on-board with my theatrics. "Third on our list is Blake Belladonna, our resident Faunus. She's had a long and storied past, nothing I'm going to mention, but she's probably the most capable fighter of us by experience. Her Semblance is, quite simply, Shadows. Blake, if you'd be so kind?"

Blake triggered her Semblance, leaping back as a second, picture-perfect copy of her appeared in her place.

"And now there's two of her."

"Yep. Blake?"

The 'shadow' evaporated as Blake put Gambol Shroud through its chest. "Still feels wrong to do."

Tal cut in before I could shut him up again, but the question wasn't as boring as I thought it'd be. "You can feel what the… 'shadow' feels?"

"Not quite. It's difficult to explain; have you ever seen yourself get hurt on camera?"

"A couple of times. It's like feeling that injury when you watch the tape, I'm guessing?"

"Like that, yes."

Tal nodded, the way someone does when they're planning something. "Huh. Uh, should I have held that question for the end as well?"

"It wasn't 'what is Dust', 'what is Aura', 'what is Semblance' or any of those boring ones, so I'm letting it slide. Back to the presentation, though."

I beckoned for Blake to draw all parts of Gambol Shroud, because the first sword was only half the weapon. "Blake's weapon, which you got a little demonstration of earlier, is Gambol Shroud. One's a sword with a literal pistol grip, and the other's a sword that's also a sheath for the pistol-sword. The pistol-sword is also attached to the ribbons you might have noticed on her wrists. That way, she doesn't even have to be near you to cut you with it. Recap: She can cut you, cut you again, shoot you, and, if you run, she can cut you without moving from her place."

That left me as the only person I hadn't told him about. "And that brings us to the thrilling finale. I'm Yang. Yes, I've got a surname, same as everyone else, it's just long. Xiao Long." Nailed it.

"My weapons," I flicked my wrists, unfolding Ember Celica, "are 'Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets' which I've named 'Ember Celica'. They'll shoot just about anything, so long as it comes in twelve-gauge." I never liked the title Signal gave them; but 'wrist-mounted shotguns' didn't seem fancy enough for them. Or, if it was, they liked the name they gave them better.

"You have rockets the size of shotgun shells?"

"That's just high-explosive rounds. Gets a lot more use than shot does in our line of work, because Grimm have thick enough skins to shrug off a lot of punishment. Only things that'll break through are swords, spears, axes - whatever your average human's been able to use for the past few thousand years - and explosives. Bullets just don't cut it."

"But everything else does, it seems."

"Hey, I don't make the rules, I just play by them. Except for my Semblance, 'course. Only one I can't really demonstrate or describe. Let's just leave it at 'I give as good as I get'."

I'll be honest, I didn't plan on it coming out that way, but Blake's reaction made it worth it. Nothing like a calm, collected Faunus suddenly losing her cool - in a good way - when a vaguely-bedroom reference was made. Even if 'losing her cool' meant 'snort cutely and blush'.

"Everything alright there, Blakey?"

She coughed and smoothed out her shirt. "Yes. I'm fine."

"Yes, you are, but I asked if you were alright."

"You know what I mean, Yang."

Tal seemed completely thrown by all of this, but he didn't look like he was out of his depth. If the grin was anything to go by, he'd already worked out what was going on. "Do you two need a room? I'm fairly certain I can find one in the buildings that doesn't smell of bandit."

"No, Taltos, Yang's just having a little fun. However, I think it's time we got on with the presentation, right Yang?" Blake's serious voice sounded amazing, but I knew I'd have time to make moments like that later.

"There's not a whole lot left to say. We're Team RWBY, fourth-year Beacon Academy students, and this has been a very brief overview of what we can do. Questions?"

* * *

 **A/N: Hey all, apologies for how long it took to get this chapter up.**

 **Between me being distracted by just about anything I can get my hands on, and my usual editor stepping out for the month, progress on this has been slow. That's not to say progress stopped entirely, as most of that distraction was playing through Shadow of Chernobyl again, refreshing my memory of how the locations look and feel.**

 **This chapter is probably a little shaky, both because it's unedited and because it's about 40% fight scene, which I've never been the most comfortable with writing. Anyone who wants to tell me that I goofed on the structure of the Bandit camp in the Dark Valley can freely come and do so - I hadn't actually reached the Dark Valley by the time I wrote this chapter, so it was all from memory.**

 **An additional note: I can't guarantee I'll be able to work in _every_ S.T.A.L.K.E.R. meme. People looking for this to be dripping in 'Chiki Briki', 'Blowout Soon', 'Get Out Of Here Stalker', et al, may be disappointed. More mundane ones like 'You See Ivan' are much easier, so expect more of those when they get to the more populated areas.**

 **With luck, I'll be back to posting chapters every weekend again, maybe sooner as continued apology, so expect Chapter 6 to be up by this time next weekend.**


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